In the dental field, dental practitioners prefer using dispensing cartridges that can be disposed of after use with one patient. These are typically referred to as single dose cartridges. Single dose cartridges provide several significant advantages over multi-use cartridges. Single dose cartridges are more sanitary than multi-use cartridges. With a single use cartridge, the dental practitioner can dispose of the cartridge after the procedure is complete, thereby, reducing the possibility of spreading germs and infection among patients. Also, single dose cartridges do not have as mush waste as a multi-use cartridge. With a multi-use cartridge, the resin and hardener components often times cross-contaminate between uses, causing the adhesive to harden and rendering the dispenser useless. The dental practitioner, as a result in this case, is only able to get two to three uses out of the multi-use cartridge and does not achieve the benefit of using the cartridge multiple times.
The single dose dispensing system that many present dental practitioners use consists of a re-usable hand-held applicator and a disposable single component, single dose cartridge that fits into the hand-held applicator. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,306,147 and 6,095,814 illustrate examples of such single dose dispensing systems. These systems are for dispensing single component fluids. They are not, however, the most appropriate choice when two fluids are required. Presently, a dental practitioner that wants to apply a two component adhesive has to dispense the fluid from the single dose cartridge (e.g. typically the resin) onto a surface and then add a hardener which is then mixed with the resin. This process is time consuming and cumbersome and not the most efficient way for a dental practitioner to mix a two component adhesive.
Accordingly, there is a need for a single dose, two component cartridge that can be used with standard, widely used hand-held applicators.